Chile – At a festival where nothing can go wrong, MMT became the technical connection point behind Viña 2026. MA Lighting, Shure, Claypaky, and Blackmagic Design were all part of an ecosystem that supported one of the most demanding shows in Latin America.
The Quinta Vergara leaves no room for error.
Every night of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival involves live television, international broadcasting, constant artist changes, complex riders, intensive programming, and millions of people watching in real time. In an environment where absolutely everything happens simultaneously, technical support ceases to be a detail and becomes a critical component of the show.
For the 2026 edition, much of that technical ecosystem had a clear connection point: MMT, distributor in Chile of brands such as Shure, MA Lighting, Claypaky, and Blackmagic Design, all of which were present within one of the most important productions on the continent.
MA Lighting and an increasingly integrated operation
In lighting, the festival further advanced its transition to MA Lighting’s grandMA3, the platform used exclusively throughout the entire control operation of the 2026 Viña del Mar Festival.
Technical support was provided by MMT’s local team together with international brand specialists such as Alejo Arce and Lorena Bello, who worked throughout the festival ensuring continuous support for artists, operators, and guest lighting designers arriving at the Quinta Vergara with different workflows and technical requirements.
For Alejo Arce, Regional Sales Manager for MA Lighting in Latin America, the presence of grandMA3 as the festival’s exclusive console platform also reflects the technical growth currently taking place across the region.
“It is an event with multiple artists, live television, and a level of technical complexity where nothing can fail. Latin America is a territory in constant growth, not only in terms of products, but also in the scale and complexity of productions,” he explained.
That context makes technical support a fundamental part of the festival’s operation.
“That is why it is so important for us to be here providing support, explaining how to work with these systems, and helping improve the performance of this type of show,” added Arce.
For Luis Martínez, MA Lighting Market Development Specialist in Chile alongside MMT, the primary objective was precisely to guarantee stability and confidence for international operators and lighting designers.
“The most important thing for us is to maintain calm and confidence in an environment as demanding as this,” he stated.
The complete implementation of grandMA3 throughout the festival also marked an important step in the technological evolution of Viña del Mar, consolidating an increasingly integrated workflow between lighting, networking, visualization, and broadcast operations.
Shure and the technical support behind the festival
Within the audio department, Shure’s deployment was focused primarily on wireless support and monitoring for both national and international artists.
Sergio Stecher, founder of Stecher Sound Chile and a historic reference in the country’s professional audio industry, was responsible for providing a large portion of the microphone inventory and wireless systems used at the festival, strengthening a relationship with Shure that dates back to the late 1980s.
“We probably have around 2,500 microphones across all brands, but Shure remains the most important in terms of quantity and usage,” he commented.
For this edition, the deployment included: 40 Axient Digital receivers, ADX and AD transmitters, KSM11, KSM9, and Beta58 capsules, and for the first time, the ADPSM digital wireless monitoring system.
“More than 90% of the bands arriving at the festival request Shure in their riders,” reported Stecher.
Added to this was the technical support work developed directly by MMT.
“We have spent five or six years providing technical support to both national and international bands here at the Quinta Vergara,” stated Chris Burgos, Shure Market Development Specialist in Chile.
One of the strongest points this year was the opportunity to showcase new technologies directly within a real festival environment.
“Many bands were still unfamiliar with the new ADPSM system, and here they had the opportunity to test it directly at Viña del Mar, with local technical support and assistance from specialists from Mexico such as Rubén Álvarez from Shure,” said Burgos.
Claypaky and the festival’s visual language
The impressive lighting framework was led by Pablo Gutiérrez, founder of LEC (Life Entertainment Crew), the Mexican studio responsible for the festival’s lighting design and stage direction.
“Viña has always been a huge reference for those of us who work in this industry. I grew up hearing about this festival as one of the most important stages in Latin America.”
LEC’s work involved a complete redesign of the lighting, visualization, and technical operation workflow, much of it developed in Mexico before arriving at the venue.
“We worked extensively on preproduction in the studio, with visualizers, drawings, and show files. That allows us to react very quickly when things happen live,” he assured.
Gutiérrez also highlighted the technical support received both from Chile and from MA Lighting’s international network.
“MMT helped us enormously. There were always support personnel available for any technical situation or questions from the lighting designers,” he acknowledged.
Within the visual design of the stage, Claypaky fixtures occupied strategic roles across different layers of the show. Pablo Gutiérrez’s team integrated models such as Arolla LT, Sharpy Plus, Tambora Batten, and Mini-B into the overall lighting design, combining key light, effects, side light, and scenic depth functions.
“The Arolla fixtures are fundamental for all the front television lighting, while the Tambora and Mini-B fixtures provide visual depth and effects that greatly enrich the scene,” he emphasized.
According to Gutiérrez, the Arolla LT fixtures were primarily used as front key lights for television, taking advantage of their framing capabilities, precision, and color temperature control to meet the festival’s broadcast requirements. Meanwhile, the Tambora Batten fixtures were integrated into the large scenic circles on stage, providing pixel effects and visual depth on camera.
At the same time, the Mini-B fixtures played a key role on stage thanks to their compact size and versatility.
“It is a very small fixture, but extremely powerful for its size. It allowed us to create depth, effects, and work very effectively with wide television shots,” he shared.
The design also prioritized visual integration between lighting, cameras, and screen content, one of the festival’s major technical challenges. It was precisely here that the flexibility of the Claypaky ecosystem allowed it to support a workflow where visual aesthetics constantly had to coexist with the demands of live broadcasting.
Blackmagic and new visual workflows
The festival’s visual department also demonstrated significant growth in workflows based on real-time rendering and processing.
Fito Zamora, founder of Visuales X and responsible for the festival’s official screen visual content, explained how tools such as Blender and DaVinci Resolve are now integrated into large-scale projects.
“Real-time work has completely changed the way visual content is produced. Today we can work on enormous projects with much greater speed and stability,” he admitted.
For Zamora, incorporating Blackmagic tools into his workflow helps reduce risks and accelerate critical processes.
“Stability is the fundamental pillar of any workflow,” he summarized.
The quiet work behind the ecosystem
Within this entire operation, Simón Manríquez’s role formed part of the mechanism that helped sustain the daily relationship between brands, clients, and production throughout the festival.
As Key Account Executive for MMT’s professional division, Manríquez was present in Viña del Mar supporting various areas of the show alongside the company’s technical and commercial teams.
“At this type of event, we support the entertainment market together with different colleagues who fulfill different roles within the festival,” he comments proudly.
His presence reflects one of the most important aspects of the work MMT has been consolidating in this type of production: close operational support for clients, technicians, and artists in highly demanding environments.
Much more than distribution
Throughout Viña 2026, MMT was not simply present as a technology supplier. It appeared as a technical integrator capable of connecting brands, specialists, local support, and operational integration within one of the most demanding stages on the continent.
And perhaps that is the real differentiator.
Because when a festival of this magnitude functions night after night, what truly sustains the show is not only the lighting fixtures, consoles, or wireless systems.
It is the human and technical ecosystem working behind them.
